


What if?

by DemonDalekDetective



Series: Swarkles feels [8]
Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: 8.12 The Last Page (Part 2), Alternate Ending, F/M, To Be Continued, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-01-04 01:00:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonDalekDetective/pseuds/DemonDalekDetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Ted never told Robin about Barney proposing to Patrice? How would the night have ended?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The first page

**Author's Note:**

> So I really should have been doing my homework while I wrote this.

Ted couldn’t do it. For some insane reason, he couldn’t give up on Robin and let her be happy with Barney like he knew she would. So he didn’t tell her about Barney proposing to Patrice, and they went to the opening of the GNB together.

***

Ted leaned in to kiss her, and for a second it looked like she would let him. But then Robin pulled back and mumbled something about checking on Lily and Marshall. Ted sank to the floor and sat with his back to the window. “What have I done?” He asked himself. He sacrificed his friend’s happiness for a shot at his own that he should have realised would never happen.

That night he just sat there, the cold from the snow outside seeping into him through the window, and he just stared at the people walking around and socializing.

***

Robin went back to her apartment and cried. Ted made a move on her, and she turned him down, because for some insane reason, she was still in love with Barney. And it was completely one-sided. She just laid on her bed and cried until she fell asleep.

***

Barney stood up on the roof of the World Wide News building alone. Robin had never showed up, and that either meant that Ted never told her, or Robin didn’t care. He shuddered at that  second one. He pulled out the ring that he was going to give her, then just put it on the ground. He wasn’t going to need it.

He picked up the last page of the playbook and let it flutter down and stick itself to one of the windows. Then he called Lily and asked her to come to his apartment. The snow would have been beautiful, but now it was cold and unwelcoming.

***

Just when she was about to get home to Marvin, Lily got a call from Barney. He just asked her to come to his apartment, and she knew she had to go, because of his voice. She said goodbye to Marshall and got in a different cab.

***

That night ended bad for all of them, even for Marshall, because not only did he not get to do any of the things with Lily, but as soon as he got back he started crying, and didn’t stop until Lily got home hours later. She had just found out about his last play, and was in shock. But she was also mad at Ted because he should have known that he didn’t have a chance. And Ted stayed by that window until everyone left, more mad at himself than Lily was, and going crazy with guilt.


	2. Chapter 2

"WHAT DO YOU WANT PATRICE?" Robin yelled at the girl in her doorway. Last night was probably one of the worst nights of her life: The night she realized that she was still in love with Barney. After the intervention (because her friends have no boundaries), she squashed it down and tried to get on with her life. But when Ted tried to kiss her, the illusion was shattered, and she went back to her apartment crying. That's when Ted called her.

  
"Hey Robin, it's Ted." His voice came out of the phone when she let it go to the answering machine. "I just wanted to say... I'm sorry for earlier tonight. I know you're still in love with Barney, but I was selfish. I should have told you before, but Barney said he was planning to propose to Patrice on top of the World Wide News building tonight." There was more to the message, but that's where Robin stopped listening. Later she deleted the message without even hearing the rest.

  
And now in her office, she sat looking at the woman that just got engaged to the man she was in love with. It made her angrier with Patrice than she could remember ever being. But she couldn't help bit look at her hand to see the ring. The ring that didn't seem to be there. Her angry expression faded into a confused one, and she even forgot to be mean to Patrice.

  
"Wait... I thought Barney proposed to you last night... where;s your ring?" Patrice winced a little a that.

  
"You should probably talk to Barney. Let him explain." Robin wanted to know what happened now, so she grabbed her purse and walked out of work. When she managed to get in a cab, she immediately gave the driver Barney's address.

  
***

  
While Robin's night had been bad, Barney's wasn't much better. Of course he had to expect the possibility that Robin wouldn't show up, but it hurt anyway.  
After he finally got off the roof, he heard a noise at his feet, and looked down to see the page he had just let go, mocking him. He took it back to his apartment to burn, but for some reason he couldn't. He shook the match to put the flame out and just waited for Lily to show up.

  
When Lily got to his apartment, Barney handed her the page without a word. As she read it, Barney watched her expression got from confused to surprise, to anger, and then to pity. "Barney," She asked softly "What happened?"

  
"Robin never came." Of course Lily would be the one he would talk to about this. Robin was an obvious no, Barney knew that Marshall wanted Ted and Robin together, and so did Ted. That left Lily. He thought to himself that he maybe needed to make some more friends. "Ted probably didn't tell her." Lily tried to comfort him, but at the end of the night, he was still sad and wondering is she just didn't love him.

  
Sitting in his apartment the next day, he wasn't ready to see Robin. So when she showed up at his door, he was about to close it again when she said "Why doesn't Patrice have a ring?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we go, second chapter. You should leave comments, because that's what made me finish writing the second chapter in the first place. I hope to be doing the third chapter soon, and to all of you that read this before, I'm so sorry for the long wait.


	3. Chapter 3

She knows was Barney’s first thought. She knows about the “proposal” and Ted actually told her and she didn’t come and she doesn’t love me and she didn’t care that I was going to marry Patrice and this is just like Kevin all over again and I’m an idiot oh god she’s staring she asked me a question shit what was her question? Soon followed in a unintelligible jumble.

“I saw Patrice today." Robin said. "Why wasn’t she wearing a ring?”

Barney couldn't think of a good answer. He mumbled a bit under his breath and then said quickly out loud “Okay well that answers that lovely to have you by see you later!” his voice getting higher as he closed the door in her face. Seconds later he heard knocking on his door again.

Barney wiped his face with his hand before opening the door to see Robin looking upset. All she said was a simple “Barney.” He sighed and moved to the side, inviting her into his apartment. He thought about getting a drink, but instead just sat down on the couch and Robin followed suit, sitting on the other side. They just sat like that for a while as Barney tried to get his thoughts together.

If Robin came here about the ring, then she might care a little bit a hopeful part of him thought. The other part told him that it didn’t matter. He couldn’t let himself hope anymore. Now was the time to really stop chasing Robin. So instead of the truth, Barney found himself saying “Patrice said no.”

Robin looked shocked for a bit, even though that seemed like the most reasonable explanation to Barney. Then she moved closer to him to comfort him, and Barney stood up. “I just, I want to be alone right now, okay?” His voice had none of his regular showiness, displaying his feelings, even if Robin didn’t really know why.

“Alright” she said, and stood up, grabbing her purse. She left his apartment quickly, and Barney sat back down on his couch. THis was not good. All he could think about was Robin and how he must have gone somewhere in all his planning, because in the end, the feelings weren’t reciprocated.

***

Robin didn’t go back to work, instead taking a cab back to her own apartment and going straight to lay down. She didn’t know what to expect, but Patrice saying no? She didn’t expect that. For some reason, she couldn’t see her turning Barney down.

That gave her a horrible thought. If Barney had asked me, would I have said no? She thought it over, and the only answer she could come up with was of course. That only made her feel worse. Barney just had his heart broken and here she was, obsessing over her unrequited love for Barney. Even though it seemed to her that she had cried as much as humanly possible the night before, she found tears running down her face as she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So , finally a third chapter. I had a lot of trouble getting this one up, since I can no longer get internet on my laptop, but I managed it anyway. I hope that maybe soon I can handle longer chapters, because this is just so short. So anyway, please enjoy, and leave me a comment if you really liked it. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I will most likely continue this. Because Robin has to find out somehow.


End file.
